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Jane Austen for Kids

Opinions vary about when (and also whether) to introduce children to Jane Austen. Age 12 is a common answer for the right age to read Austen for the first time, but why not get started at age 1 or 2? Here’s a list of books and resources for kids interested in learning more about Jane Austen, and/or for adults interested in sharing Austen’s novels with the children in their lives. I hope you’ll add your favourites in the comments below.

The Beautifull Cassandra, by Jane Austen, illustrated by Juliet McMaster (Sono Nis Press, 1993). This is my favourite book for introducing children to Austen, because the whole story is by Austen herself, and because McMaster’s illustrations are delightful. She also includes a helpful Afterword that tells children about Austen’s life and her writing.

You can read about the creation of this book in Persuasions 10 (1988) and Persuasions 15 (1993). If you follow the link to McMaster’s article in Persuasions 15, you can also read her story “The Beautifull Jane: A Biography in Twelve Chapters.”

Here’s a review of The Beautifull Cassandra at Austenblog by ten-year-old Emma Carton, who writes, “I loved this book because it was written by a kid for kids…. Jane Austen is a wonderful writer and I can’t wait to read more of her books.”

This one isn’t an adaptation of an Austen novel, but it has some entertaining parallels with Sense and Sensibility: The Penderwicks on Gardam Street is the second book in a wonderful series by Jeanne Birdsall, and a mysterious “Marianne Dashwood” figures prominently in the plot.

You can read about the Austen connections – including characters named Jane and Lizzy and references to hating flannel shirts – in The Penderwicks on Gardam Street in my post “A Passion for Dead Leaves.”

Jane Austen’s Life and Works:

Young Jane Austen: Becoming a Writer, a “speculative biography” by Lisa Pliscou. “The thread that connects all the pieces of the story is a question Jane Austen must have returned to again and again: what opportunities are open to girls? This was an excellent question in the late eighteenth century and it’s an excellent question now. Lisa draws attention to possible answers throughout her book.” I wrote about Young Jane Austen in this post on “Imagining Jane Austen’s Childhood.”

Jane Austen for Beginners, by Robert G. Dryden. Laurie Kaplan reviewed this introduction to Austen’s life and works in the Winter 2013 issue of JASNA News: “Jane Austen for Beginners would make a good birthday or graduation present for a ‘noisy and wild’ young person like Catherine Morland, or for a teenager who, like Catherine at seventeen, has an ‘inclination for finery’ and is in training to become a hero/heroine.”Conversations and News about Jane Austen for Kids:

Author and co-owner of Parnassus Books Ann Patchett interviews Yashwina Canter, a “passionate young reader” who has high praise for the Cozy Classics books – “Get ‘em started early” – and says Pride and Prejudice is “the classic that made me go read all the other classics I could get my hands on, and as a result, it’s the book that made me so desperate to study English.”

I interviewed Amy Patterson of Jane Austen Books about “Mr. Collins, Mansfield Park, and Jane Austen for Kids.” She says, “I think it’s quite possible for a child to be too young for Austen,” but that the Austen-inspired board books are “valuable for introducing a sense of setting and tone of the novels.” When I asked her about adaptations of Mansfield Park, she said, “I have not seen any MP board books, but as it’s (un)fairly unpopular with adult readers I’d imagine children’s authors would start with the more popular titles. We already have P&P and S&S, and I’m betting the next will be Persuasion. After all, nothing is more exciting to kids than a good old-fashioned head injury.”

“JA in YA: To Jane on the 200th Anniversary of Pride and Prejudice,” by Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal. “The young adult fiction market … is overflowing quick-witted adaptations of Austen novels that are sure to delight new and longtime fans of the author.” Diaz’s list includes Enthusiasm, by Polly Schulman, Prom & Prejudice, by Elizabeth Eulberg, Spies in Prejudice, by Talia Vance, and Epic Fail, by Claire LaZebnik. She also recommends Hank Green’s video blog series “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” – “The online adaptation charmingly engages with the original’s plot, while offering fresh twists, a diverse cast and modern sensibility, and up-to-date teen speak” – along with “Welcome to Sanditon” and “Emma Approved.”

For the 200th anniversary of Mansfield Park, I reviewed Claire LaZebnik’s very funny and very smart novel The Trouble with Flirting. You can also find Lisa Galek’s review of the novel at Austenprose.com.

“Awesome mom, possibly a Janeite.” Blog post by Deborah Yaffe about a mom who “decided to use photography, dress-up, books, crafts, cooking and field trips to teach her preschool kids about amazing women of the past,” including Jane Austen.

Nickel writes, “The Wishbone episode is not only appropriate for children but lacks many of the Hollywood clichés and the ‘harlequinization’ that frustrate scholars about Austen films aimed at adults. … [It] provides a refreshing alternative for all viewers who appreciate the friendships, social rituals, and good manners that sustain Austen’s happy couples.”

There’s plenty of Austen-inspired clothing for kids. I have to say I prefer the clothes that command us to “Read Austen” to the inevitable “I heart Mr. Darcy” t-shirts. And I do like the Mr. Woodhouse-inspired bib.

At the Jane Austen Gift Shop in Bath, you can find child-sized bonnets, jigsaw puzzles, temporary tattoos, pencils, quill pens, and tiny copies of Austen’s hilarious History of England by a Partial, Prejudiced & Ignorant Historian. They also have an initial seal and sealing wax set – I had one of these when I was a kid and I loved it, long before I discovered Jane Austen.

There are even Jane Austen bandages, for all your cuts and scrapes. Another way of interpreting the idea of “Jane Austen therapy” — and why not introduce your kids to Austen therapy at a young age? Comes with a free temporary Austen tattoo.

Happy reading, and colouring, and I hope you never have to use the bandages for yourself or your kids. Please share your own recommendations below.

Ah, sisters and money – two topics bound to generate interest. She’ll have fun learning more about those sisters when she’s older, I’m sure. And she’ll develop an appreciation for the ten thousand pounds as well. Have you watched any of the movies with her, or is she pretty focused on Mio Mao?

Thanks for visiting. Yes, absolutely, reading makes for better writing, and reading Austen is great preparation for a lifetime of reading and writing. I’m glad you like the list of Austen-inspired children’s books.

Sarah,
I love this post! As a former elementary school teacher I am interested in Jane Austen for young people. I have many of the books an items you mentioned & I am eager to start reading & collecting the rest! I only wish that these books and items were available when my girls were young!!!

Melissa from LittleLiterary on Etsy offers cloth baby books for all 6 Austen novels. You can buy them pre-made or in DIY form. She also offers soft dolls to go with all of the characters & even a soft Pemberley!

Melissa offers prints for the nursery and onesies & t-shirts too. She offers the same items for other authors as well.

Also on Etsy, Katherine, from 5orsixtalents, offers delightful prints for little ones. She has a cute “Boys like Jane Austen too!” print and an adorable, “Girls like Jane Austen” print. Katherine also has Lizzy & Darcy prints. These are great for the nursery or a child’s room!

Thanks for this jane Austen for Kids post, Sarah!! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Thanks, Joan! I’m so pleased to hear that you enjoyed this list. There’s been so much interest in recent years in finding ways to introduce Jane Austen’s life and works to children, even when they’re very young. I’m very glad to hear about the cloth baby books and dolls and the prints available on Etsy. I’m always looking for new ideas for presents for the young people in my life and it’s been such fun to explore Austen’s world in this way. Thank you for adding to the list!

It was wonderful to meet you and to get to know members of your Region, and I’m delighted that you enjoyed the talk. My favourite part was the discussion afterwards, because you all know the novels so well and had such interesting things to say about ambition. I hope you have a lovely summer and I’ll look forward to seeing you at a future JASNA meeting. Thanks for reading the blog!

Welcome!

I write about Jane Austen, Jane Austen for kids, and Edith Wharton. Sometimes I post about other writers I admire, such as L.M. Montgomery, and about places I love (especially Nova Scotia and Alberta). I taught writing at Harvard University before I decided to come home to Nova Scotia to write full time. For the past ten years I’ve been working on a novel, and I hope it will soon be ready to go out into the world!

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"I must keep to my own style & go on in my own Way; And though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other." Jane Austen to James Stanier Clarke, 1 April 1816

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